The Practice of Piety, Treatise · Part 29
Meditations for one that is recovered from Sickness.
IF God hath of his mercy heard thy Prayers, and restored thee to thy health again, consider with thy self,
1. That thou hast now received from God, as it were, another life. Spend it therefore to the honour of God, in newness of life. Let thy sin die with thy sickness: but live thou by grace to holiness.
2. Be not the more secure, that thou art restored to health, neither insult in thy self, that thou hast escaped Death; but think rather, that God (seeing how unprepared thou wast) hath of his mercy heard thy Prayer, spared thee, and given thee some little longer time of respite; that thou maist both amend thy life, and put thy self in a better readiness against the time that he shall call for thee without further delay, out of this World. For though thou hast escaped this, it may be thou shalt not escape the next sickness.
3. Consider how fearful a reckoning thou hadst made before the Judgment-seat of Christ, by this time, if thou hadst died of this Sickness: Spend therefore the time that remains, so, as that thou mayst be able to make a more chearful account of thy life, when it must be expired indeed.
4. Put not far off the day of Death, thou knowest not for all this how near it is at hand; and being so fairly warned, be wiser. For if thou be taken unprovided the next time, thy excuse will be less, and thy Judgment greater.
5. Remember that thou hast vowed amendment and newness of life. Thou hast vowed a vow unto God, defer not to pay it: for he delighteth not in fools; Eccles. 5. 4.pay therefore that thou hast vowed. The unclean Spirit is cast out; O let him not re-enter with seven worse than himself. Mat 12. 45.Thou hast sighed out the groans of Contrition, thou hast wept the tears of Repent…nce; thou are washed in the Pool of B…thesda, streaming with five bloody Wounds, not of aaJoh. 5. 4. troubling angel, but of the bIsa. 63. 9.Angel of God's presence, troubled with the wrath due to thy sins; who descended into Hell, to restore thee to saving health, and Heaven. Return not c2 Pet. 2. 22.now, with the Dog, to thine own vomit, nor like the washed Sow, to wallow again in the mire of thy former sins and uncleanness; lestdVerse 20. being intangled and overcome again with the filthiness of sin, (which now thou hast escaped) thy latter end prove worse than thy first beginning. Twice therefore doth our Saviour Christ give the same cautionary warning to healed Sinners. First, To the Man cured of his 38 years desease;John 5. 14. Behold thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing fall upon thee. John 8. 11.Secondly, to the woman taken in adultery; Neither do I condemn thee: Go thy way and sin no more. Teaching us, how dangerous a thing it is, to relapse and fall again into the former*1 Pet. 4. 4. excess of Riot. Take heed therefore unto thy ways; and pray for grace,Psal. 90. 12. that thou mayest apply thy heart unto wisdom, during that small number of days which yet remain behind. And for thy present mercy and health received, imitate the thankful Leper, and return unto God this, or the like Thanksgiving.
A Thanksgiving to be said of one that is recovered from sickness.
O Gracious and merciful Father, who art the Lord of Health and Sickness,1 Sam. 2. 6. of Life and of Death: who killest, and makest alive; who bringest down to the Grave and raisest up again; who art the only preserver of all those that trust in thee, I thy poor and unworthy Servant, having now (by experience of my painful sickness) felt the grievousness of misery due unto sin, and the greatness of thy mercy in forgiving sinners, and perceiving with what a fatherly compassion thou hast heard my Prayers, and restored me to my health and strength again; do here (upon the bended knees of my heart) return (with the thankful Leper) to acknowledge thee alone to be the God of my health and salvation: and to give thee the praise and glory for my strength and deliverance out of that grievous Disease and Malady: and for thus turning my mourning into mirth, my sickness into health, and my death into life. My sins deserved punishment, and thou hast corrected me, but hast not given me over unto death. †Isai. 38. 9, &c.I looked (from the day to the night) when thou would'st make an end of me: I did chatter like a Crane or a Swallow: I mourned (as a Dove) when the bitterness of sickness oppressed me: I lifted up mine eyes unto thee, O Lord, and thou didst comfort me, for thou didst cast all my sins behind thy back, and didst deliver my soul from the pit of corruption; and when I found no help in my self, nor in any other creature (saying, I am deprived of the residue of my years, I shall see man no more among the Inhabitants of the World) then didst thou restore me to health again, and gavest life unto me; I found thee, O Lord, ready to save me.
And now, Lord, I confess, that I can never yield unto thee such a measure of thanks, as thou hast (for this benefit) deserved at my hands. And (seeing that I can never be able to repay thy goodness with acceptable works) O that I could with Mary Magdalen testifie the love and thankfulness of my heart, with abounding tears! O, what shall I be able to render unto thee, O Lord, for all these benefits which thou bestowedst upon my Soul! Surely, as in my Sickness, when I had nothing else to give unto thee, I offered Christ and his merits unto thee as a Ransom for my sins; so being now restored by thy Grace unto my health and strength, and having no better thing to give; behold,Rom. 12. 1. O Lord, I do here offer up my self unto thee, beseeching thee so to assist me with thy Holy Spirit, that the remainder of my life may be wholly spent in setting forth thy praise and glory.
O Lord forgive me my former follies and unthankfulness, that I was no more careful to love thee, according to thy goodness, nor to serve thee, according to thy Will; nor to obey thee, according to thy Commandments; nor to thank thee, according to thy Benefits. And seeing thou knowest, that of my self I am not sufficient so much as to think a good thought (much less to do that which is good and acceptable in thy sight;) assist me with thy grace and holy Spirit, that I may (in my prosperity) as devoutly spend my health in thy service, as I was earnest in my sickness to beg it at thy hands. And suffer me never to forget either this thy mercy, in restoring me to my health, or those Vows and Promises which I have made unto thee in my sickness. With my new health, renew in me, O Lord, a right Spirit: which may free me from the slavery of sin, and establish my heart in the service of grace. Work in me a greater detestation of all sins (which were the causes of thy anger, and my sickness) and increase my Faith in Jesus Christ, who is the Author of my health and salvation. Let thy good Spirit lead me in the way that I should walk; and teach me to deny all ungodliness, Tit. 2. 12.and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this world, that others by my Example may think better of thy Truth. And sith this time (which I have yet to live) is but a little respite and small remnant of days, which cannot long continue; Teach me, Psal. 90. 12.O my God, so to number my days, that I may apply my heart to that spiritual wisdom which directeth to salvation. And to this end make me more zealous than I have been in Religion, more devout in Prayer, more servent in Spirit, more careful to hear and profit by the preaching of thy Gospel, more helpful to my poor Brethren, more watchful over my ways, more faithful in my calling, and every way more abundant in all good works. Let me (in the joyful time of prosperity) fear the evil day of affliction; in the time of health, think on sickness; in the time of sickness, make my self ready for death; and when death approacheth, prepare my self for Judgment. Let my whole life be an expressing thankfulness unto thee for thy Grace and Mercy. And therefore, O Lord, I do here from the very bottom of my heart, together with the thousand thousands of Angels,Rev. 5. 12, &c. the four Beasts, and twent… four Elders, and all the creatures in heave… and on the earth, acknowledge to be due unt… thee, O Father, which sittest upon the Throne… and to the Lamb, thy Son, who sitteth at th… right hand, and to the Holy Spirit, which proceedeth from both; the holy Trinity … Persons in unity of substance; all prais… honour, glory, and power, from this tim… forth and for evermore. Amen.
Meditations for one that is like to die.
IF thy Sickness be like to encrease unto Death, then meditate on Three things… First, how graciously God dealeth with thee… Secondly, from what evils Death will fre… thee. Thirdly, what good Death will brin… unto thee.
First, Concerning God's favourable dealing with thee.
1. Meditate, That God useth this chastisement of thy Body, but as a Medicine to cure thy Soul, by drawing thee (who ar… sick in Sin) to come by Repentance unto Christ (thy Physician) to have thy So… healed.Matth. 9. 12.
2. That the sorest Sickness, or painfulle… Disease which thou canst endure, is n…thing, if it be compared to those dolours and pains which Jesus Christ thy Saviour hath suffered for thee: when inaLuk. 22. 44. a bloody sweat, he endured the bPsal. 88. 7. Isa. 53. 6.wrath of God, the pains ofcPsal. 18. 5. hell, and adHeb. 5. 7. cursed death which was due to thy sins. Justly therefore may I use those words of Jeremy, Gal. 3. 13. Lam. 1. 12.Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, Dum legimus vel audimus quot & quanta ille sine culpa sustinuit, intelligimus nos peccatores omnia debere libenter sustinere. Theod. ad 5. Cap. in Rom.which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce wrath. Hath the Son of God endured so much for thy redemption, and wilt not thou a sinful man endure a little sickness for his pleasure; especially when it is for thy good?
3. That when thy sickness and disease is at the extreamest, yet it is less and easier than thy sins have deserved. Let thine own Conscience judge whether thou hast not deserved worse than all that thou dost suffer.
Murmur not therefore, but considering thy manifold and grievous sins, thank God that thou art not plagued with far more grievous punishments. Think how willingly the damned in Hell would endure the extreamest pains a thousand years, on condition that they had but the hope to be saved, and (after so many years) to be eased of their eternal torments. And seeing that it is his mercy that thou art not rather consumed than corrected; Lam. 3. 22.how canst thou but bear patiently his temporal correction, seeing the end is to save thee from eternal damnation?1 Cor. 11. 32.
4. That nothing cometh to pass in this case unto thee, but such as ordinarily befell to others thy Brethren;Heb. 11. who (being the beloved and undoubted servants of God when they lived on earth) are now most blessed and glorious Saints with1 Pet. 5. 2. Christ in Heaven: as Job, David, Lazarus, &c. They groaned for a time, as thou dost, under the like burthen; but they are now delivered from all their miseries, troubles, and calamities. And so likewise ere long (if thou wilt patiently tarry the Lord's leisure) thou shalt also be delivered from thy sickness and pain, either by restitution to thy former health, with Job; or (which is far better) by being received to heavenly rest, with Lazarus.
5. Lastly, that God hath not given thee over into the hand of thine Enemy, to be punished and disgraced; but (being thy loving Father) he correcteth thee with his own merciful hand. When David had his wish, to chuse his own chastisement, he chose rather to be corrected by the hand of God, than by any other means; Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, 2 Sam. 24. 14.for his mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hand of man. Who will not take any affliction in good part, when it cometh from the hand of God,Heb. 12. 11. from whom (though no Affliction seemeth joyous for the present) we know nothing cometh but what is good? 2 Sam. 16. 9, 10.The confideration hereof made David to endure Shimei's cursed railing with greater patience, and to correct himself another time for his impatiency;Psal. 39. 9. I should not have opened my mouth, because thou didst it: and Job, to reprove the unadvised speech of his Wife!Job 2. 10. Thou speakest like a foolish Woman; What? Job 2. 10.shall we receive good at the hand of God, and not receive evil? And though the Cup of God's wrath due to our sins,Mat. 26. 39. was such a horror to our Saviour's humane nature,Verse 42. that he earnestly prayed that it might pass from him; yet (when he considered that it was reached unto him by the hand and will of his Father) he willingly submitted himself to drink it to the very dregs thereof. Nothing will more arm thee with Patience in thy sickness, than to see that it cometh from the hand of thy heavenly Father, who would never send it, but that he sees it to be unto thee both needful and profitable.